California High Speed Rail Thread

[edale]

Originally Posted by Crawford

They don't. Train traffic absolutely dominates that corridor. The only flights are the business shuttles.

The only people who fly from NY to DC are business travelers, doing last minute trips on the shuttles. And even then, Acela usually makes more sense. Budget travelers take the regular Amtrak trains, or the dozens of private bus carriers (or, obviously, drive, like most Americans).

I'm genuinely amazed that Angelinos would endure a flight to Vegas instead of driving a few hours. Sounds bizarre. Do they fly to San Diego and Santa Barbara too? Those corridors have tons of traffic. And unlike I-15, which is only two lanes, you can't expand the road capacity.

I lived in DC, and know many, many people who flew from Reagan National to one of the NYC airports. And they weren't business travelers. Delta Shuttle was a particularly popular choice for people making this trip, as it was pretty cheap and they had an expedited check-in/security experience. I have flown that route myself for a weekend trip to NYC. United alone operates 32 daily flights between NYC and DC, and that only represents 40% of the capacity share for that flight market: https://www.routesonline.com/news/29...c-frequencies/

I don't know why you're amazed that people fly rather than making a 4-6 hour drive. LA to Vegas is more than twice as far as San Diego or Santa Barbara, so I'm not sure why you're even bringing those cities up other than potentially not understanding California geography. According to this article, Las Vegas to LA is the busiest airline route in the country: https://www.oag.com/busiest-routes-r...20last%20month.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

Las Vegas trains are currently planned to terminate in Victorville, 80 miles from LA Union Station. They'll be able to piggy-back on the tunneled CAHSR entrance to Los Angeles at Palmdale.

Rancho Cucamonga now with the planned Cajon Pass extension, and I have to assume they will find a way to get Brightline trains to LAUS or do a timed transfer to Metrolink.

The High Desert Corridor route from Victorville to Palmdale never made much sense to me. Adding HSR there was a way to greenwash a terrible sprawl-generating freeway and get exurban votes for LA County's Measure R and Measure M. Supposedly the "intention" was to make SF-LV also a profitable HSR market, but the distance is too far and the route too convoluted compared to air travel and driving.

Extending Brightline to Rancho is a better move, it opens the door for a future southward extension to San Diego. I think SD-LV is a more realistic market for rail, it's right at the sweet spot of ~300miles.

[DJM19]

I think doing both is the answer. It can easily plug into the HSR at Palmdale and serve all population coming from the north. And it can plug into Rancho and serve all the population in the LA basin + southward.

[markb1]

CaHSR from Palmdale to Union Station will take probably under 30 minutes. Metrolink from Rancho Cucamonga takes 1 hour and 17 minutes. I think connecting Brightline West to CaHSR in Palmdale makes plenty of sense once CaHSR arrives.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by markb1

A big reason to take a train to Vegas instead of driving would be to avoid the nasty traffic that happens on I-15 at times. A reason not to would be not having a good way to get around once you're in Vegas. But on most of my trips there, I've just stayed in a small area on the strip, so I don't think I would have missed having a car. Train wins!

The dreaded "last mile" issue with public transportation. You could easily get around this using Uber/Lyft... or if there were shuttle buses from the rail terminal to all the major casinos running at regular intervals.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by edale

I lived in DC, and know many, many people who flew from Reagan National to one of the NYC airports. And they weren't business travelers. Delta Shuttle was a particularly popular choice for people making this trip, as it was pretty cheap and they had an expedited check-in/security experience. I have flown that route myself for a weekend trip to NYC. United alone operates 32 daily flights between NYC and DC, and that only represents 40% of the capacity share for that flight market: https://www.routesonline.com/news/29...c-frequencies/

The number of daily flights between DC and New York and Newark is of limited relevance because both Dulles and JFK and Newark are major international hubs and much of this is to provide connecting traffic. A passenger might fly from DCA to JFK and then connect to Europe or the Middle East.

[craigs]

I suspect that those who question why people fly between Las Vegas and Los Angeles have never actually driven that route.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by craigs

I suspect that those who question why people fly between Las Vegas and Los Angeles have never actually driven that route.

Haha 100%. As someone that goes to Vegas 4 or 5 times a year, I usually fly half the time. If flying out of Burbank, I'll get there 30 min before, 45 min fight and all in all, 2 hours max until I'm at the hotel.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by craigs

I suspect that those who question why people fly between Las Vegas and Los Angeles have never actually driven that route.

Who doesn't like getting stuck in stop and go traffic in the middle of the desert?

[Busy Bee]

That gives you more time for shoulder pep talks.


___

[202_Cyclist]

High-speed rail stations ‘one step closer to reality’ in the Central Valley

By Manny Gomez
Oct. 20, 2022


Conceptual Rendering Bakersfield Station Courtesy of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. (Image via KSEE)


"FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The design contract for the Central Valley’s high-speed rail stations has been approved by the California High-Speed Rail Board – another step towards making the project a reality.

On Thursday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s (Authority) Board of Directors unanimously approved awarding the design and support services contract for the Merced, Fresno, Kings/Tulare, and Bakersfield stations that will serve high-speed rail passengers on the initial 171-mile segment.

The Authority awarded an approximately $35 million station design contract to Foster + Partners and Arup for the first two separately funded phases..."

https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/ne...entral-valley/

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Rancho Cucamonga now with the planned Cajon Pass extension, and I have to assume they will find a way to get Brightline trains to LAUS or do a timed transfer to Metrolink.

The Metrolink tracks from LA Union out to Ontario and beyond aren't going to be upgraded until CAHSR Phase 2. So it's going to be a relatively slow ride, even if it's a one-seat ride. The Las Vegas trains will need to travel all the way to Anaheim to be serviced and turned, which isn't really a bad thing, because one of the great strengths of the CAHSR plan which nobody seems to realize is that Orange County is going to have all of the train service that LA Union has.

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

The Metrolink tracks from LA Union out to Ontario and beyond aren't going to be upgraded until CAHSR Phase 2. So it's going to be a relatively slow ride, even if it's a one-seat ride. The Las Vegas trains will need to travel all the way to Anaheim to be serviced and turned, which isn't really a bad thing, because one of the great strengths of the CAHSR plan which nobody seems to realize is that Orange County is going to have all of the train service that LA Union has.

One of my friends passed through the Anaheim ARTIC station this week. It is a beautiful, shiny, station but he said it has about the same ridership as the Twinbrook WMATA station in DC, a relatively small metro station.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

One of my friends passed through the Anaheim ARTIC station this week. It is a beautiful, shiny, station but he said it has about the same ridership as the Twinbrook WMATA station in DC, a relatively small metro station.

It's a 2-platform station right now. One day it's going to have 10+ HSR arrivals and departures per hour, plus electrified Metrorail.

[twinpeaks]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

It's a 2-platform station right now. One day it's going to have 10+ HSR arrivals and departures per hour, plus electrified Metrorail.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

It's a 2-platform station right now. One day it's going to have 10+ HSR arrivals and departures per hour, plus electrified Metrorail.

You mean Metrolink right? When is Metrolink planning to go electric by?

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by homebucket

You mean Metrolink right? When is Metrolink planning to go electric by?

The extremely specific date of sometime in the future.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by homebucket

When is Metrolink planning to go electric by?

I doubt that they will rebuild the Metrolink corridor between Burbank and Anaheim before ground is broken on the tunnel or tunnels between Palmdale and Burbank.

[Busy Bee]

• Video Link

[jmecklenborg]

^Somebody explain the track configuration at the station...it's going to be a terminal station, at least for awhile, so it looks like there is an extra track that allows trains stored on the tail tracks to bypass the station.

Also, there are no express tracks...so will all trains on the future spur to Sacramento be locals?